Friday Night At Joe's
by greymind
Summary: Chapters 10 & 11 are up. The interns, residents and attendings are out at Joe's for the night for the MerFinnCristinaBurke double date. For those of you who continue to read thank you! To the readers who haven't given this fic a chance take a look. Thx.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Bang's Apartment…Early Morning

Burke places the coffee cup on the nightstand and gently shakes Cristina in an attempt to wake her up. Not getting any response, he moves the hair that's covering the side of her face. She had the wildest curls in the morning. Sometimes when he woke up before her he would lay in bed and just put his fingers through them as she slept. Her hair always smelled so good but it was a tangled mess. He still hadn't figured out how she was able to tame it so quickly in the mornings. In a way it was similar to how he felt about their relationship. Not really sure about how it worked out but happy that it did. It always brought a smile to his lips remembering how neat and orderly life had been before Cristina.

Burke leaned closer to his girlfriend speaking to her in a soft voice "Time to wake up."

As he expected, she responds with a cranky mumble "I just went to sleep" then she rolls over with eyes still closed grabbing his pillow to cover her face "leave me here, you go."

Burke glances at the clock. 4:00am. It was Friday, Cristina had been sick most of the week and worked extra hours in an attempt to avoid any appearance that she was not able to keep up. Basically, this meant going to the hospital at 4:00am every day, picking up an extra on-call shift and scrubbing in on late surgeries. He made one attempt to talk to her about the unenforced 80 hour work limit that she was ignoring but she just avoided him the rest of the day. After four days, the exhaustion was clear in both her face and her attitude. By Wednesday, she'd started to be more short-tempered and yesterday Bailey made it clear that she'd run out of patience with Cristina's sour attitude so she definitely couldn't afford to be late today.

"I know it feels that way but you've been asleep four hours. Today that's all you get." He felt badly for her but this was the life of an intern and they both knew it. He remembered those days all too well when his body felt like it literally hit a concrete wall.

"Ok. One more hour" she's still facing away from him, pillow over head, comforter up to neck.

Cristina didn't normally have this much trouble getting up for work. She didn't like getting up early but she got up to go to the hospital. Of course she never got up any earlier than she absolutely had to so that she could get to work on time. He felt her head which wasn't warm and realized that she must be more tired than he thought.

"It's time to get up. You don't have one more hour today. You can sleep in tomorrow, Saturday."

Her head is buried in the pillow making her voice muffled "Really?"

She was skeptical. Shortly after moving in with Burke, she found out that he had been hiding the very annoying habit of waking up early on days off in an extremely upbeat mood. He was always happy, babbling about how they needed to get out of the apartment and embrace all that Seattle had to offer, blah, blah, blah. At first, he had tricked her by asking her to go with him to get coffee in the mornings but that coffee trip inevitably turned into a trip to the market, the museum, the park, wherever. After a few coffee trips she realized that this was what he actually did on his days off. This, of course, led to a string of fights until they'd finally settled on a compromise of embracing Seattle one day of the weekend, not both, and never ever before 9am.

"No early morning coffee run?"

"I promise"

She rolls back towards him opening one eye and then the other. She felt like crap. She hadn't been feeling well and insisted on pushing herself harder to prove a point. Who had she needed to prove this point to? Looking at the clock at 4am on a Friday morning she couldn't seem to think of anyone but she'd swear on her last breath that there was someone.

"Why are you up so early anyway?" She barely gets the words out before she starts to yawn. Burke usually wasn't up this early unless he had a surgery scheduled and she knew that he had none this morning.

"I thought that since I hadn't seen you the past three nights, I'd actually try to see you this morning before you ran off to the hospital. I missed you."

The small traces of a smile were on Cristina's face. Cranky or not she had missed seeing him too "Is that coffee mine or are you just teasing me?"

He waits for her to sit up, handing her the coffee then climbing into bed so he could snuggle up behind her. This was a rare moment for them to share before work. He loved how relaxed she was and how her body just melted into his when they were like this.

Usually she bolted out of bed to get ready and she'd spent time each morning running around the apartment looking for hair clips, socks, shoes, you name it she's looked for it before work. Sometimes he swore she was like a tornado but to her credit she was hardly ever late. He was just thankful that she no longer went around smelling her clothes looking for something clean to wear. That was one habit he definitely couldn't live with.

"I feel like a truck hit me."

"I'm surprised you'd admit it"

"Next time I won't."

Mornings were definitely not her thing "So I was thinking that I could make us a nice dinner tonight and we could…"

She interrupts him "You forgot! We're meeting Meredith and her new McDreamy at Joe's."

"I thought that was tomorrow night."

"Nope. Tonight." Cristina yawns. "7:00."

"Any chance we could reschedule? I mean you just said you were exhausted." He was disappointed and looking for an excuse not to go to dinner. He liked Meredith, he liked all of Cristina's friends but after the week they had he wanted to have her to himself. He just didn't want to have to share her one more night with anyone.

"Nah, Meredith is being weird."

"What do you mean weird?" He could feel Cristina's body tense a little bit because here they were again in one of those situations where he wanted more details and she was not willing to give them up. This was true with information about herself as well as her friends. He never quite understood why she so desperately tried to maintain that privacy. His was on a need to know basis, revealed only on her terms.

"You know, weird"

"Not really"

Cristina quickly sits up hanging her legs off the side of the bed and places her coffee on the nightstand irritated "Look, we just can't cancel okay?"

He'd learned along the way just to drop it and move on especially where her friends were concerned. It just wasn't worth the fight "Alright."

He moves over so he is leaning on his right elbow next to her lap looking up at her as she pulls her hair up in a bun "So does this new guy have a real name?"

She answers his question as she reaches over him to grab her coffee "Finn. You know like a fish."

Watching Cristina taking a sip "Seriously?"

"Yup like a fish"

"You're not going to say that to him tonight are you?"

She leans down giving him a kiss "I guess that depends how bored I get!"

Burke laughed grabbing her coffee with one hand and pushing her further off of the bed with the other.

"Hey!" trying to sound offended as she got up off of the bed

"Hurry up and get dressed. We'll drive in together." He got up and started making the bed as she got ready.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**4th Floor Nurses Station**

Meredith, Alex, George, Izzie and Cristina are at the nurse's station waiting for Bailey to start rounds. Cristina is sitting with her head resting on the desk. Meredith is next to her reviewing a chart of the cardiac patient she'd been eyeing up and Alex is pacing. The three of them seem to be a little on edge today. As usual, George and Izzie are drinking their coffee cheerfully chatting about something or other.

"Why do they have to be so damn happy in the mornings?" Cristina mumbles to Meredith who just raises an eyebrow and smiles.

Izzie is her usual upbeat self "So anybody have big weekend plans."

"Where's Bailey, she's late?" Alex isn't interested in Izzie's polite conversation. He's just starting to get over the fact that she dumped him for Denny. He hated losing out to a bedridden corpse.

Without even lifting her head Cristina calls out "Alex, 10 bucks says you can't say that to Bailey's face without her biting your head off."

"He'd be nuts to take that action?" For some reason, that none of the others could figure out, Izzie had started the annoying habit of talking about Alex not to him even when he was standing right in front of her. They all just figured she was still mad about the way he treated Denny. In her defense, it was only in the past week that Alex had started referring to Denny by name.

"Don't be such a lightweight Yang. Make it $20 and you're on" Alex never could pass up a bet.

George laughs "Definitely nuts! Nothing good can come of this."

"Alex, Cristina you're not seriously going to do this?" Meredith was trying to be the voice of reason. She knew that Alex could get himself into a lot of trouble depending on what mood Bailey was in and that if Alex got into trouble he would not keep it to himself that it was Cristina's idea.

"20 bucks and when you lose you do my post-op notes for a week" Competition was like a drug to Cristina. She was now sitting straight up practically giddy. Meredith and Izzie are shaking their heads, smiling, knowing that the only thing left to do was watch the show.

Alex leans over the desk so his face is about 6 inches away from Cristina's who is looking him straight in the eye "Done! I'd love a week without notes."

"Won't be this week pig boy!" Cristina puts her feet up on the desk leaning back with her hands crossed behind her head and turns her attention to Meredith "So what kind of name is Finn anyway?"

Everyone looks at Cristina. George, Izzie and Alex are now leaning on the desk facing Meredith and Cristina.

Cristina rolls her eyes "Like none of you were wondering."

"I have no idea. I didn't want to seem rude by asking." Meredith waits for a response from Cristina "Don't think you're asking him that tonight."

"Great, now there are rules for this date? You know, we've been waiting for Bailey for like an hour."

"Cristina, it's only been 20 minutes." Izzie continues as Cristina silently mocks her 20 minutes response "I don't think it's really rude. Maybe it's a family name like Finneus."

Cristina is now trying to amuse herself so she doesn't fall asleep "Or…"

Alex as he walks away "Finnegan"

George's looking at Alex "Where's he going? Bailey's going to be mad."

Cristina again "Or…"

"Enough already with the guessing!" Meredith knocks Cristina's legs off the desk "Stop encouraging them?"

"Sorry, I'm tired of waiting. The sooner we get this day started the sooner we'll be done."

"You must be sick. You're never ready for the day to end." Izzie reaches over and feels Cristina's head.

"I'm fine" annoyed she pushes her chair away from Izzie and closer to Meredith "So are you sure about sticking with this no sex thing? I mean tonight's your third date."

George wants no part of this conversation well aware that he was the last man Meredith had sex with before she chose to try celibacy "I'm just going to go stand over there now."

Before Meredith has a chance to answer, Izzie turns the conversation towards her "I don't think that Denny and I will wait three dates. I mean we've practically had like 10 dates in the hospital."

Cristina knows an opening when she sees one. She just couldn't resist. "Um I'm confused." As she speaks, Cristina gets up and walks around to the corner of the desk where Izzie is standing "Was that when you weren't dating Denny or when you were dating Alex?"

Cristina pauses for a few seconds before finishing "Oh that's right, I forgot, that was at the same time, wasn't it?"

Izzie gives Cristina a dirty look. Cristina loved giving Izzie a hard time because she tried so hard to act like she wasn't interested in Denny. The girl was practically walking on air the day UNOS found the heart and Burke did his transplant.

"Finn and I haven't known each other that long and I'm tired of making mistakes with men. He's a nice guy and just once I'd like to get it right."

"Nice is the kiss of death." Cristina turns back to Izzie "So let me make sure I have this straight, Tinkerbell."

Meredith tries to put the brakes on what she knows is about to happen "uh Cristina can you…"

But Cristina could not be stopped. She knew she was on a roll and cranky Cristina feeling like she was hot was a dangerous thing "In Fantasyland, guys who just had heart transplants don't die when they have sex too soon."

"Cristina!" Izzie and George yelled at the same time.

"You are horrible" Meredith trying to hide her laughter.

Cristina tries to act as if it was an innocent statement "What? Izzie's delusional if she thinks she's getting any from Denny anytime soon."

"You are as bad to be around as Alex when you don't sleep. You know that, right? Where is Bailey, anyway?" Izzie walks down the hall.

George walks up to Cristina and leans in very, very close.

"Step back, you're breathing on me."

"Sorry, just never had a chance to see Satan up close before that's all" George tries to change the subject "How are you even still walking? You must be exhausted."

"Incredible stamina" Cristina steps back, leans against the wall with her eyes closed, stretching her arms above head.

"That's what Burke tells me" she opens her eyes and Alex is standing in front of her

"I'd be willing to put that stamina to the test whenever you're ready."

"Say what you want Evil Spawn, I have had a week of fantastic surgeries. I'd be jealous of me too."

George looks over "Jealous of what? The 25 hours of sleep you got."

"Those are just details" walking past him Cristina playfully slaps his face with both hands "sleep is for the weak Baby Boy."

Meredith follows Cristina over to a set of empty wheelchairs "You are so out of control. You should apologize to Izzie."

"Oh you love it and you know it. She'll be fine."

"Um, you didn't tell Burke about the sex thing did you?"

"Of course not. That'd be weird. He's your boss."

"Good"

Bailey is coming down the hall and Alex stands next to Meredith and Cristina "Ready Yang?"

"Ready to watch you crash and burn. Go for it."

Cristina and Meredith watch as Alex slips past George and Izzie and starts speaking to Bailey in a worried tone "Dr. Bailey, is everything okay? We were worried that you were late. Anything wrong with little Tucker."

Bailey looks at Alex suspiciously "Yes, he was throwing up so I had to wait for his dad to leave work to stay at home with him. He couldn't go to daycare today. Uh, thanks for asking. Okay, let's start rounds with Addison Sheppard's patient in 402. And people, try not to aggravate me anymore than I already am. I am not in the mood today."

Realizing Alex just beat her Cristina lets out the first thought that pops into her head "I hate babies." Meredith laughs as she gets up to start rounds.

Cristina catches up to Alex grabbing him by the jacket and pulls him back "You went up to the daycare didn't you?"

"It's all about the details Yang. I'll take my 20 at lunch." She hated that crappy grin he had on his face when he got over on someone.

The interns all fall in line behind Bailey to start rounds. Cristina angry because she hated losing especially to Alex. Meredith anxious about date night with Finn and her ability to remain celibate. Izzie angry at Cristina's comments about Denny. Alex gloating and everyone hated Alex when he gloated. And George well George was just George. It had already been a very long day.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**Surgical Board at SGH**

Preston Burke is standing at the surgical board discussing the day's schedule with Chief Webber when a grinning Derek Sheppard walks up "Gentlemen, it is a wonderful day to save lives isn't it?"

Webber looks over "Dr. Sheppard"

"Derek" Burke keeps his eyes fixed on the board in front of him.

Richard glances at his department's top surgeons proudly and he was glad to see that they were getting along better these days. Much better than the days when they saw each other only as competitors for his job. Things seemed to cool down once they both realized he was not planning on resigning in the near future. Derek had finally won Preston's respect after he saved Bailey's husband. All it took was a bomb for them to be able to have a friendlier relationship. "Preston and I were just talking about how light the schedule looks today. We all might be able to get out early. Too bad."

"Yes. It's a very quiet board today" Sheppard's tone is unusually serious and his comment irritates Richard which was the usual effect "You just couldn't resist saying it could you. Derek Sheppard, you are a terrible, terrible man." Webber was his mentor and Sheppard was always amused when he could rile him up "You shouldn't be so superstitious Richard. It's not good for your nerves."

Burke and Sheppard both laugh. They didn't have much in common but they shared a genuine respect and affection for their boss. When Sheppard first arrived at Seattle Grace, Burke had been jealous of his relationship with Richard especially after finding out he was brought in to be his competition for Chief of Surgery. That jealousy disappeared a long time ago and now he thought of Sheppard as a respected colleague.

"No, having the two of you on staff is what is not good for my nerves."

Burke's looking at Richard wide eyed and innocent "What did I do?"

"Oh, you're just like him. Two peas in a pod."

Burke puts his hands on his hips "Chief, I'm offended."

Sheppard takes a step forward and counters "Now, I'm offended."

"Well you both need to stop being offended and go do some work! This is a hospital in case you've forgotten."

"Love to but we can't" Burke is rubbing the base of his neck grinning.

"Wipe that silly grin off your face Preston. Now, tell me why you can't work?" Webber can't imagine what the problem could be now.

Sheppard finishes what Burke started "The board's too quiet."

"Two peas in a pod! Go do some paperwork or something." Webber walks away shaking his head and mumbling.

Sheppard walks over to where Burke's now leaning against the railing of the stairwell

"So Preston since it's not busy, do you want to grab some lunch?"

Burke looks at Sheppard suspiciously "Why?"

"Nutrition, sustenance. I eat lunch, you eat lunch. In a crazy world, we could eat lunch together. You do eat don't you?"

Burke stands a little straighter wondering what Sheppard is up to "Yes, but you and I, we don't eat together."

"We could. It's not like there are rules against such things."

Burke's still not convinced "Why would we do that?"

"The spirit of friendship"

Burke raises his eyebrow "We're not exactly friends"

"No, but we are colleagues."

Burke reluctantly agrees not really able to think of a reason not to "That we are. Okay, if we're going to go let's go."

The two start walking towards the cafeteria and don't get very far before Derek reveals what's really on his mind "So are you looking forward to your date with Meredith and her new boyfriend tonight?"

Burke stops and looks at Shepherd "So that's what this invitation is about." Burke can't help but laugh "You are a weak man Derek Sheppard. You couldn't even wait until we got to the cafeteria."

Sheppard is feeling absolutely no shame "Ouch! You know if you were a true colleague you wouldn't go."

"Really? My girlfriend is her best friend as you like to point out and last time I checked girlfriend trumped colleague." Burke tries to move past Sheppard who blocks his way

"Don't you think she'd be better off staying away from doctors?"

Burke takes a deep breath and looks up at the ceiling before responding "Do you even remember that you're married and that I happen to like your wife?"

"Of course and we are all friends. Addison, Meredith and I. I'm saying this as a friend. Doctors…we're too complicated. Nothing but trouble."

"Derek you are not her boyfriend." Burke is now leaning against the wall. He is trying to be empathetic but his patience is quickly wearing thin.

"I know that."

"Then start acting like you know it and stop wasting my time and yours."

Sheppard leans on the wall next to Burke "I'm just looking out for a friend."

"You can say that as many times as you want. It doesn't make it true"

"Well I don't think Cristina will like him. You might like him but not Cristina. There's definitely something, I don't know, unlikeable about him. Besides Cristina doesn't like many people."

Burke stares eyes wide in mild shock that Sheppard just insulted Cristina and walks down the hall followed by Sheppard "Preston, I don't mean that in a bad way. As a matter of fact, right now I'm admiring that quality about her."

"Cristina likes a lot of people you just don't happen to be one of them."

"I can live with that."

Burke is now standing in front of the elevator impatiently pushing the button "I'll sleep better knowing that."

"So long as she doesn't like Dandridge either. I mean really who dates a guy named Finn? This is not the way to the cafeteria."

"Apparently Dr. Grey." Burke is getting more and more irritated that he is spending this much time discussing Meredith Grey's love life.

"It doesn't make any sense"

"Sheppard, that's the smartest thing you've said and you are absolutely right." Sheppard has a wide grin on his face believing that Burke is finally agreeing with him.

"This conversation doesn't make any sense at all." Burke steps onto the elevator and turns around with his hand in front of him "Do not follow me onto this elevator."

Sheppard follows Burke's advice "What about lunch?"

Burke answers as the doors close "Have lunch with your wife, Dr. Sheppard."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 **

_**On-Call Room SGH**_

Relieved to have escaped from Sheppard's ramblings, Burke comes out of the elevator and rounds the corner, passing the on-call room he'd seen Cristina go into a little while earlier. As he walks by, he wonders if she's still in there and stops as he gets a little further down the hall. He hesitates before turning around. They had agreed to avoid meeting in on-call rooms during the day in an attempt to minimize distractions and eliminate temptation. At work, he was her attending not her boyfriend. Burke generally had no trouble sticking to this agreement but today was different. It was unusually slow in the hospital this morning and his first procedure wasn't until this afternoon. He really did just want to spend some time alone with her and the on-call room was the one place in the hospital where he was guaranteed to have her all to himself. Taking a quick look around he sees that the floor is empty by hospital standards.

Burke walks back towards the on-call room and quickly opens the door. Poking his head inside the room, he can't help but smile when he sees Cristina is still occupying the bed. Her back is to him and she's still as he slips in and closes the door.

Realizing that someone has come into the room, Cristina yells without turning around "There's only one bed in this room and I'm in it!"

Burke responds to her in a soft, low voice "Still cranky I see."

Hearing his voice, Cristina feels her heart begin to beat faster. What is he doing here? We have an agreement? Cristina rolls over to see Burke leaning against the wall with his arms folded flashing a sexy smile her way "I am not cranky."

"Right"

She refused to admit to anyone else today that she was cranky, tired or sick "I'm not"

"Are you feeling any better?"

"I'm fine." Burke gives her a look that says he does not believe her. This look annoyed her and what annoyed her even more than the look was that he had the nerve to look so good giving it. He was just leaning against the wall in his scrubs and coat with that grin on his face, tempting her "It was nothing."

"Bailey almost sent you home one day so I think it's safe to say it was something."

"Well I didn't get sent home and I am fine."

Burke just stares at her. She did look better today than she had all week but he still suspected that she was not telling him something. This time, though, he's prepared to wait her out.

Cristina stares at her boyfriend for another minute or so "Fine, I had a headache this morning but I took aspirin and it went away. Now can we drop it?"

"Yes" he laughs happy with his small victory and she throws her pillow at him upset that she's lost for the second time this morning. "What are you doing in here anyway? You weren't sleeping."

Without her pillow, Cristina is laying flat on her back staring up at the ceiling "Can't sleep. I was laying here thinking how I could get out of doing Alex's post-op notes next week. Still can't believe I lost that bet."

Burke is silent. Cristina props herself up on her elbow to look at him and immediately recognizes the grin on Burke's face. Moving away from the wall, he begins to take his coat off.

"What are you doing?" Cristina is still leaning on her elbows on the bed.

"Getting comfortable" He neatly folds his coat and lays it on the chair next to him not once taking his eyes off of her as he moved.

"Getting comfortable? It's the morning and you're working." Cristina knew what Burke was thinking and was trying not to show that she was surprised. Morning sex at the hospital was not Burke's thing. Morning sex at home he liked but at the hospital not too interested. Burke was all about cutting in the morning and Cristina knew that.

As Burke looked at her, Cristina could see the intensity in his eyes. He was intense about everything. She could feel it fill the room as he spoke "Technically, it's lunch time and I can be comfortable at work"

Burke slowly takes his scrub top off, locks the door and starts untying his pants keeping his eyes fixed on Cristina.

"Well, somebody thinks he's getting some?" Cristina's halfheartedly playing hard to get. Years ago, she'd decided that she loved sex too much to be good at the game of hard to get and she never played games she was not good at for very long. "You know, this could be considered harassment."

Burke's grinning "I thought I could help relieve some of that crankiness."

Cristina laughs "That is such a bad line. You'd be one lonely man if you were still single."

Still grinning and keeping his eyes locked on her "You'd be surprised."

"You're right. If that line worked I'd be shocked." Her head is leaning so that it is almost off of the bed as she admires the view of a partially clad Burke. "Exactly how much time do you have?"

"Long enough. What about you?" Now it's Cristina who is having a hard time taking her eyes off of Burke as he takes a couple of steps closer to the bed and begin to take off his underwear. So confident he was. Not self conscious at all.

"Sorry. Hot lunch date."

She giggles as his underwear lands in her lap. She rarely took the opportunity to just look at him naked. When they were first together, she had been self-conscious. There had been a moment early in their relationship when they were in the shower. He'd been behind her and she felt him move away leaving his hands still holding her arms. She was immediately uncomfortable because she didn't understand what he was doing. She didn't trust him the way she did now. After a moment, he released her arms. She couldn't wait to turn around and did so quickly only to find that he was just staring at her with these loving eyes. He looked so calm, so confident and she was so unsure of herself. To break the silence, she had started to speak but he stopped her with his words "I just want to look at you. To memorize you" She watched his face in the moment as he scanned her body. It was only a minute that passed but it felt like forever before he spoke again "You're beautiful." She didn't know what to say. She'd never had a moment like this before. Not knowing what to do or say she had quickly kissed him. Now she was anything but uncomfortable. She too had memorized every part of his body. Every mark, every scratch.

He knows she is surprised at his boldness today. She's trying to hide it but he knows because today she is not doing a very good job at it "So are you going to let me stand naked over here all by myself?

"Maybe. I'm pretty comfortable myself, enjoying the view." Cristina's voice gets a little sweeter "You're cute naked. Izzie and Meredith would definitely keep looking."

Burke just smiles as the memory of their conversation ran through his mind. It was the night that he'd kicked George out. The night that Cristina strutted her naked self in front of O'Malley. Feeling she had crossed a line, he tried to prove a point by asking her how she would feel if he stripped in front of Izzie and Meredith. He wasn't prepared when she answered that she wouldn't mind and she doubted that either of her friends would cover their eyes or look away. That night she had managed to surprise him twice.

Cristina gets up off the bed and moves closer to Burke. She really wasn't feeling very tired anymore. "Mmmm. Could you help a surgeon out of her scrubs?"

She raises her arms above her head and without saying a word Burke puts his hands on her waist and slowly pulls up her shirts brushing his hands lightly against her body as he raises the shirts. He removes her hair clip releasing her crazy curls so that they fell on her bare skin. He always loved how great her dark hair looked against her milky skin when she was naked. There was not much he didn't love about her when she was naked. Not able to go another second without kissing her, Burke softly grabbed her face with both hands and pressed his lips against hers. She loved those hands. He moved them down her back unhooking her bra, pulling his lips away from hers to make a trail of tickling kisses on her shoulders and arms as he took off her bra. He quickly pulls the string on her pants causing them to fall to the ground. She stepped out of them as his lips brushed up against her shoulder once again.

When he touched her she could not think straight. He was intoxicating to her. They were intoxicating to each other. Their naked skin was electric. With other guys she'd faked it, gone through the motions. But him, he touched her soul. They were that good together.

He bent down kissing her stomach as he guided her panties down her legs. He stands back up holding a very tiny piece of pink material "You actually get changed in front of O'Malley and Karev wearing these?"

Cristina wraps her arms around his neck "We're naked. You really want to talk about them right now?"

He smiles and his lips touch hers again. As her hands travel up his chest and down his shoulders, she rubs him just lightly enough with her nails to give him a chill. She rubs his right ear as she kisses his chest softly and her hair tickles his body. He wraps his arms tightly around her small waist lifting her slightly off of her feet. Her hands travel across the small of his back and down to his firm butt giving it a light squeeze. Burke laughs. He loved making love to her.

She turns around, leading him the short distance to the bed. He does not break contact with her, keeping his arms around her waist and brushing her neck with his nose "You're going to be embarrassed the day someone catches us in here naked."

Burke takes his lips off of her neck for a moment "I can live with that."

"That's what you say now until everyone's talking about..."

He quickly turns her so she's facing him and speaks to her in a serious tone "Enough talking." Holding her head with both hands, he kisses her passionately as they fall onto the bed. Today temptation is a winner.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: **

**Outdoor Courtyard SGH **

Cristina walks out to the courtyard holding her lunch tray and heads over to where Meredith is finishing her lunch and Izzie is reading a magazine "Hey."

Meredith is taking the last gulp of her water "Hey, you missed lunch. Where were you?"

Cristina sits down with her salad clearly in a much better mood than earlier in the day "Sleeping."

Meredith leans closer to Cristina "Sleeping?" Meredith glances over at Izzie who is not paying attention to them "She slept and that's why she's smiling now."

"Mer, you are being weird."

Meredith pauses wondering why Cristina's so happy. Cristina is not usually happy when she wakes up. Looking at her, Meredith notices that her shirt looks different "Why is your shirt on backwards?"

"What?" Cristina looks down.

Meredith rephrases her initial question "You're shirt. It's on backwards."

Before Cristina can answer Izzie says exactly what Meredith is thinking "You just had sex!"

"Uh, no. Working remember? I slept. I was asleep" Cristina tries her best to play if off. This is a conversation she does not want to have. She was not shy talking about sex in general but for some reason she did not like talking to them about sex with Burke.

Almost simultaneously, both women move closer to Cristina. Meredith drags her chair over and Izzie moves to the chair directly next to her "Spill!"

"Sleeping! I was sleeping." Cristina is trapped as her friends crowd her "You're surgeons, don't you have anything else to talk about?"

"No I don't think so. Do we?" Izzie's smiling and Meredith backs her up "Nope. Nothing at all."

Cristina starts eating her salad with the two of them staring at her from either side. She is not liking this attention and rushing because she is very late. After how cranky she'd been throughout the week, she knew that they were not going to let her off the hook.

Meredith keeps pushing "So? How was it?"

"My salad?" Cristina continues to eat her lunch answering in an irritated voice.

"No, Burke!"

"Don't you guys have an enema to give or something?" Cristina looks up from her salad and can't resist smiling when she sees Burke walk into the courtyard.

Seeing Burke walk in, Izzie laughs "By the smile I'd say it was pretty damn good."

Cristina rolls her eyes, putting her hand up to scratch her ear as she sometimes did when she was uncomfortable. She turns her head to look at Izzie "Amazing" then pauses and turns towards Meredith "As always. Now can we move on?"

Meredith and Izzie can't hide their surprise as they look at Cristina. They both thought that Burke was hot and Cristina had told them he was good in bed but nobody's that good.

Meredith is now staring at Burke across the courtyard "Always?"

Izzie, with her eyes fixed on her boss, is not convinced "Seriously?"

Cristina has given up on her salad and leans back with a satisfied smile "Never misses his mark."

Meredith and Izzie lean back and at the same time "Wow." The three of them burst into giggles as Alex and George walk up with coffee.

George looks at Cristina "You are in a much better mood." He looks up to the sky "Thank you."

"Yeah, I got some sleep."

The girls start laughing again. Cristina bites her lip as she catches a glimpse of Burke across the courtyard then goes back to eating her salad. George and Alex are giving the ladies strange looks.

That quickly Alex has had enough "I'm outta here! The estrogen's made them delirious. Where's my $20 Yang?"

Cristina looks up at Alex and points to the $20 on the table "Check out your trough pig boy."

Izzie quickly changes the subject "So Meredith, how come none of us were invited?"

Meredith is checking out Burke, still thinking about their earlier conversation "What?"

Izzie's voice is more serious now "Your date with Finn. How come Cristina was invited but we weren't?"

"I'm doing a test run with Cristina and Burke."

George chuckles "You're testing Finn with Cristina? I thought you liked him."

Cristina throws her water bottle at George but he continues undeterred "She doesn't even think he's a real doctor."

Everyone looks at Cristina "What? He's a vet. Real doctors save people. He saves animals."

Meredith quickly turns to Cristina "Do not say that tonight. Or ever!"

Izzie sighs "It's just that Cristina isn't always the nicest person."

Cristina is tired of this conversation already "Nice is overrated. What is nice anyway?"

"But Cristina and Burke Cristina is different which is why we're going out with both of them."

Cristina tilts her head back not very pleased with Meredith's explanation "So right now I'm thinking I don't need to go on this date. I'll just send Burke and fake me."

Meredith didn't want to hurt Cristina's feelings but everyone, even Cristina, knew it was the truth "You know it's true. He brings out a nicer Cristina."

Cristina feels herself start to panic inside. She does not want her friends thinking that she acts differently in front of her boyfriend. Worse than that, she now realizes that they actually liked him as a person not a boss. She was not prepared for that "Burke is not so nice you know."

Izzie looks up from her magazine "Sure"

Cristina tries to plead her case "He's not. Don't you remember how mean he's been to us as our attending?"

George calls her on what's going on "You're just mad that we think Burke is nicer than you."

Cristina counters "Don't be ridiculous! I am not mad."

Izzie makes a comment to George under her breath "She's definitely something."

"We'll go out as a group. It will just be another time."

Izzie is not satisfied "What if tonight's your last date?"

"Thank you" Meredith gets up and walks away.

Cristina sits back in her chair smiling because she's feeling vindicated "I may not be as nice as Burke but even I would not have said that."

"Izzie, that was so bad."

Cristina and George start to laugh. Izzie gets up and walks away "Cristina, I still haven't forgiven you about your Denny comment."

"Oh there's Callie" George leaves Cristina sitting at the table by herself which is fine with her. She could use some alone time.

Cristina's sitting there for a couple of minutes mindlessly flipping through the magazine Izzie left when Derek Sheppard sits down without saying a word.

She knows it's him and when he doesn't say anything Cristina looks up from her magazine. She looks around hoping that he is sitting there to talk to someone else. No such luck "Why did you just do that?"

Cristina reacted just as Sheppard had expected "What? Sit down?"

"Yes" she was definitely suspicious. They did not have very much contact and the contact they had was strictly professional. No chitchat. Definitely did not sit together anywhere. Cristina is curious about what he's up to.

"Are you ever going to be nice to me?"

"Do you have a surgery I can scrub in on?"

"No" Sheppard laughs at how forward Cristina is. She'd do anything to get a good surgery even be nice to him.

"Well then I have to be professional. Nobody said anything about nice."

"That wasn't very professional. You wouldn't have done that to Dr. Bailey."

Cristina was not backing down. She never did with him and it had cost her some opportunities but she did not respect him after what happened with Meredith. Burke would never have done things the way he did "Dr. Bailey would have talked when she sat down."

"I feel like we got off on the wrong foot. Truce?"

Cristina's waiting for the other shoe to drop "Why?"

"Well I was thinking that…" Cristina doesn't let Sheppard finish "You know what. Forget it. Just tell me what you want?"

Burke walks up behind Sheppard "He wants to pump you for information about Finn."

"Preston"

"Sheppard"

"Sheppard?"

"Yes. Sheppard. We'll be permanently back to last names if you don't leave my girlfriend alone." Burke was not happy that Sheppard was talking to Cristina about Meredith after their earlier conversation.

Cristina is not quite sure what's going on but she had to admit she liked that Burke stepped in to help her not that she needed any help really but she liked it "This is fun but if we're done I've got to get to work."

"I'll walk in with you" Cristina gets up and walks back into the hospital with Burke shooting Sheppard one last disgusted look over her shoulder as they enter the doors.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6 **

_**Intern Locker Room**_

"I am so glad this day is over. I need my bed." Face down on the bench in jeans and a bra, Cristina's voice is hard to hear over the unusually loud noise of the locker room.

Izzie's already out of her scrubs and fixing her hair "You've still got date night to deal with."

Cristina mumbles back "Date night will be a piece of cake compared to this week." Standing up she puts her arms over her head to stretch, bending her head back, "McDreamy's freaking out because you're dating Finn."

Meredith remains silent focusing her attention on the inside of her locker as she tries to hide her smile while Izzie says what's on everyone's mind "Seriously?"

Cristina fills them in on her lunch encounter as she fumbles through her locker finally finding a shirt "He was trying to suck up to Burke and me so we'll like him better than Flipper. It was pathetic."

All of the interns thought the McDreamy days were gone but the expression on Meredith's face coupled with the absence of any attempt to defend Finn against Cristina's comment tells them otherwise.

Meredith turns to her left to look at Cristina "Seriously?"

Immediately bored at any mention of the name McDreamy,Alex starts talking about his favorite subject "I'll be at Joe's later."

Izzie has no time for Alex but has no intention of letting him get a glimpse of the vet before her "Why?"

Alex walks over and parks himself in front of Cristina's locker_ "_Not to see some vet that's for sure. I'm there every night. It's my home away from home." As he continues, Alex slaps Cristina's thigh "Hey Yang, make sure your boyfriend has enough cash on him tonight to cover your losses. I'd love to spend it while you're writing my notes next week."

Meredith jumps in "Nobody's betting anybody. We're double dating. There will be no betting."

"Evil Spawn, touch me again and I'll make sure that hand never earns you a dime." Cristina turns her back to Alex to continue getting ready "Does your contract with Satan require you to be an ass all of the time?"

Alex stands up and leans over Cristina's shoulder "No, it's pretty much a choice."

Cristina shakes her head pushing Alex out of the way as she passes him to look in the mirror.

Pleased with himself over Cristina's reaction, Alex turns his attention and his cocky grin to Izzie _"_How come you're not playing Florence Nightingale tonight anyway?"

Cristina laughs and quickly responds not wanting to miss out on the action "Vet trumps boyfriend!"

Hating any mention of Denny by Alex, Izzie immediately becomes defensive "Did you just call me a nurse?"

Seeing Alex's smirk pushes Izzie into making a decision "That's it! George and I are definitely going to Joe's."

"Look Tinkerbell, we've been together all day. Meredith does not want you guys to go. Give it a rest."

Izzie is unphased by Cristina's comment "You're pretty full of yourself for a girl who's going to Joe's with her boyfriend boss for the first time."

All of the interns are surprised that Izzie is opening this can of worms at the end of the day. Cristina's face is a mixture of confusion and exasperation "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means everybody's going to be watching you and Burke to see how you act outside of the hospital. You know, see what kind of couple you are. You'll be tonight's main attraction at Joe's."

"How we act?" Cristina really didn't understand. She goes to Joe's all of the time. In her mind, tonight was just another night out.

"It's Friday night. Everybody from the hospital goes to Joe's and you think they're not going to take notice that you and Burke are there together?"

"No. What do they care? We're at the hospital together every day." Cristina is feeling the anxiety build in her as she stands at her locker. She hasn't put much thought into tonight beyond the idea that she was going was to help out Meredith with the celibacy thing and definitely had not considered this problem.

Cristina begins to panic as Izzie, George, Meredith and Alex laugh.

Alex shakes his head "I'm outta here. This is too easy. It's like watching a lamb go to the slaughter."

Understanding Cristina's discomfort, Meredith keeps her voice low trying to be empathetic "Izzie's right. People care."

It wasn't often that Izzie had the upper hand on Cristina but it was sweet when it happened, "Joe's is basically a fishbowl and you're the fish. Maybe it's a good thing Meredith's boyfriend is a vet."

Meredith's still thinking about McDreamy "He's not my boyfriend."

"Are you trying to make me nervous?" Cristina slams her locker a little harder than usual.

Meredith just laughs "Well, misery does love company."

Izzie shuts her locker "Oh I can't wait to see this. First the vet, now Cristina's first public appearance with Burke."

Meredith is totally frustrated "Izzie!"

Cristina looks at the blonde doctor "That's just great. Did you forget you're supposed to be the nice one?"

Also curious about the man that could make McDreamy jealous, George tries to help Izzie out "You won't even know we're there."

Cristina, happy to divert the focus from she and Burke, rolls her eyes "George, you really want to go hang out with Meredith and her new boyfriend?"

"He's not my boyfriend."

Cristina's pulling the clip out of her hair "Whatever"

"I have a girlfriend." George's tone is serious. He's trying to put his crush on Meredith in the past but it has not been easy.

Cristina's raises the pitch of her voice to give it a sarcastic edge "Right. Orthochick."

George is defensive "Her name is Callie not Orthochick."

Sitting on the bench Meredith switches topics, "I have to warn you. Finn's not the best dresser."

Cristina lets out a sarcastic laugh "Oh, I knew there was something wrong with him!"

"There's nothing wrong with him. He's just a little rugged."

Izzie and Cristina look at each other skeptical "Rugged?"

"Sexy rugged or mountain man rugged?"

Meredith hesitates before answering "Sexy"

"Hesitation means mountain man. Whatever, Mer!" Cristina grabs her bag laughing as she leaves the locker room.

Meredith yells to everyone and no one in particular "He's sexy! He is!"


	7. Chapter 7

_**Chapter 7**_

**_4th Floor Corridor SGH_**

What's taking so long? She feels as if she's been waiting in front of the closed doors forever as she pushes the down button for the tenth time. The longer she waits, the more anxious she becomes wondering if what Izzie said is true. Are people going to be looking at the two of them tonight? Inspecting them? She hadn't even considered it. They've been together long enough that she didn't think that they were even gossip worthy anymore. She had been preoccupied with the thought of Burke socializing with her friends not the idea of going to Joe's with him. Mixing friendships with romantic relationships always made her nervous. She had never gotten this part right. Never. Most people were excited about their friends liking their boyfriend but it scared her. She was afraid of Burke knowing her friends and of her friends knowing him outside of the hospital. What if they revealed a part of her he didn't like? What if they liked him better than her? Izzie was right that he was a nicer person than her. She always wondered who got the friends after the break up. The idea of those two worlds colliding created a knot in the pit of her stomach. She liked keeping things separate. It was clean and precise like a good incision.

Fish in Joe's fish bowl. That's how Izzie described them. She wanted to just think that Izzie was crazy and all of her comments nonsense but deep down she knows it's true. It was so unlike her to miss something like that. Was she so comfortable with Burke that she was becoming naïve? She hadn't even thought about the fallout of them going on a date at a place as popular as Joe's. Why is she torturing herself anyway? She can do this. They have been out in public a thousand times. Tonight at Joe's is no different. Who is she kidding? Of course tonight's different. Would she be pacing in front of an elevator talking to herself if it wasn't? She was fine when they were hanging out with just Meredith but now Izzie, Alex, George and half of the hospital were going to be joining them on their date. She has always tried to deny that it bothers her but the truth is she cares what other people think about her. She always has. People could think what they wanted about her as a person as long as they thought of her as one of the best and brightest as a student, an intern, a surgeon. Most people wouldn't believe that she would even give something like that a second thought but Burke knew. He called her on it the day they discussed revealing their relationship to the Chief and she tried to use the argument that she didn't want anyone making allowances for her. Burke was right that her concerns had nothing to do with allowances and everything to do with not wanting people to think less of her as a surgeon because she was dating her boss. That seemed like such a long time ago now.They were in love and they were good together. That should be all that mattered. Where is the damn elevator?

**_Seattle Grace Main Lobby _**

Burke sits waiting for Cristina. His thoughts wander as he thinks about how often he's waited for her. Too many times. Sometimes she made him feel as if she'd keep him waiting forever. This was most true when she was hospitalized They'd been apart for a few weeks before Cristina collapsed in his OR. That day was one of the longest days of his life. It was an out of place pregnancy. That's how they sometimes referred to it and that was exactly how he felt as he tried to steal a moment alone with her. Her mom, her friends, or Bailey seemed to always be with her and he thought he'd never get a chance to talk to her alone. It was when he saw her lying in that hospital bed that he'd decided that she was worth the risk. He knew that he had made the first mistake. He would not foolishly let her go again. He wanted them to be a couple more than he wanted to protect his career. It was with this in his mind that he slid into bed next to her that night. He did not care that her mom was in the room or who may have seen him from the door. It broke his heart to watch her crying alone in that bed. He could not see how she was suffering and just walk away from. It was then that she finally let him in. Let him be there for her when she had reached her limit and could no longer keep her emotions under control. He was the only one Cristina would allow to comfort her. This eased his own pain showing him that she shared the feelings he had for her. It was during that time that he saw such a different side of her. The Cristina she so carefully buried in order to achieve success. The Cristina he believed existed all along. The Cristina he had been pursuing since that first cup of coffee. The real Cristina.

He had called her the afternoon of her discharge. He knew that, given the opportunity, Cristina would withdraw back into her shell and he wasn't determined not to let that happen. He pursued her just enough so she could not forget he was there for her and that he was serious about having a relationship. It worked. She agreed to meet him for coffee before she came back to work. He talked a lot her not so much but when they were together she acted differently letting him put his arms around her and even hold her hand. Every kiss, every touch, every look confirmed for him that they meant so much more to each other than either was willing to admit. She looked so scared when told her that he wanted a commitment. It seemed obvious to him, but she was surprised, making a comment about him acting out of a misguided sense of obligation or pity. It made him sad that she that she believed obligation was the only reason he wanted to be with her. She had no idea how deeply he cared for her. That he loved her. Her response revealed to him an insecurity that he hadn't realized before. Still she could not give him an answer right away. Her answer came only after he reminded her that he would not wait forever.

He knew he'd been distant since George moved in. He enjoyed having a friend. It reminded him of his fraternity days. To be the best surgeon in his field, he worked hard and that hadn't left much time for friends. He was used to having fraternity brothers and close friends nearby, and, no matter how much time you spend with them, colleagues are not necessarily true friends. This was hard for Cristina to understand and he could have explained it but he didn't. Cristina was ambitious. Surgery was her priority as it should be for an intern. That is how you survive the program. She was fortunate to have developed friendships with her fellow interns but he needed her to understand that things outside of the hospital were important too. Cristina had tried to be patient and shown more interest in things other than work but he had either given her a hard time or ignored her efforts. He was always a little harder on her. Maybe it was so people didn't think he favored her. Maybe it was because he thought she was capable of better things. He knew he could have handled things differently. He also knew that he liked that Cristina was jealous of his relationship with George. He had yet to figure out why she needed to have life so compartmentalized. He found it ironic that relationships were the only thing in her life she liked to be neat.

He would prefer to spend the evening alone with her, but knows that tonight is a big step. It is just Meredith and her date but Joe's is the hospital hot spot and a lot of people they work with will be there. Cristina hadn't mentioned feeling nervous but he's pretty sure that she is. It will bother her more than him. It always does. She worries that people look at her and see the intern sleeping with the attending to get ahead. That they look at her and question her competency as a surgeon. She's probably right and it bothers him because it upsets her, otherwise, he could care less what they think. Cristina is his light. He would rather be with her than in the OR and when he's in the OR with her he feels like life is perfect as he does what he loves with the woman he loves. He looks at her and sees the woman he'll share his life with. He is not a man who makes foolish decisions. He is a man who takes risks to get what he wants.

The ding of the elevator draws him back to the present and he smiles as soon as he sees that it's Cristina walking out of the elevator. Her hair's down and her curls form an imperfect frame around her face. She looks fantastic, as always, dressed in jeans and, to his surprise, his favorite shirt.

He meets her halfway "You look beautiful."

"You look pretty handsome yourself." She returns his smile, and, without even thinking, reaches to hold his hand. She chose his favorite shirt on purpose. It's her way of telling him that she pays attention and she loves that he can never keep his hands off of her anytime she wears it.

He barely waits until they are outside before he grabs her to steal a kiss.

"Mmm, what has gotten into you today?" She's making a joke of it but she's happy that he's being so affectionate. Things have not been the same between them since George moved in. Cristina was happy that George was no longer living there but it had come at a price. Burke was not pleased at all that Cristina walked around naked in front of her fellow intern and his friend as a way to manipulate him.

"I told you I missed seeing you this week."

Wrapping her arms around his neck, she kisses him this time. She loves those lips.

"I should stay away more often."

He just laughs as they begin their walk to the parking lot.

"So why were Grey and Stevens staring at me at lunch?"

"Were they? I have no idea" Cristina tries to look innocent but has a devilish smile as she recalls her lunch conversation with Izzie and Meredith.

Unconvinced, Burke eyes her up suspiciously as he draws her in closer to him.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

_**Joe's Bar**_

Cristina stops, letting go of Burke's hand just as he is about to open the door to the bar.

He turns around "Did you forget something?"

"Burke"

It was her girlfriend tone. Burke named it one day in an attempt to tease her when she was trying to convince him to do something. He couldn't describe it but he knew it when he heard it. It meant either something was wrong or she wanted something. Tonight, he's pretty sure that something's wrong.

Burke takes a couple steps back "Yes."

She looks up at him then towards the door "Nothing. Never mind."

Burke takes her hand in his not surprised that she's clamming up "You okay?".

"Yes." Cristina's voice is soft and their privacy is interrupted when the door to Joe's bursts open as a nurse from the hospital leaves.

"Hi Dr. Burke, Dr. Yang."

"Hello"

"Hey" Cristina smiles weakly.

As the two walk into the bar, Cristina is immediately overwhelmed by the number of people she recognizes from work. Instinctively, she loosens her grip on Burke's hand but he just squeezes tighter. She doesn't need to look at him to know that he's smiling at her. She wonders how he knows things even when she hasn't said a word.

Burke chooses to focus on finding a seat and ignore his girlfriend's jitters hoping they'll go away on their own soon enough "No empty tables right now just a spot at the bar."

Before Cristina can answer, he's leading her towards the only two seats available at the bar. The knot in her stomach tightens as she sees that the empty seats are next to the guys from psych.

Joe is shocked to see the two of them approach the bar "Dr. Burke, Cristina haven't seen the two of you in here before."

Ignoring the disturbed look on Cristina's face he continues "You know together as boyfriend and girlfriend."

"Alright, we get it." Cristina scratches her neck as she looks around.

Burke raises an eyebrow at Cristina "We're here to meet Meredith and her new boyfriend. I guess they're running late."

"Seriously, a double date? Don't see too many of them in here." First the knitting now the double dating. Sometimes he just didn't understand these two.

Cristina watches Burke who looks strangely comfortable like he comes to Joe's every night. She on the other hand looks very uncomfortable with her hands tightly folded on the bar as she continuously scans the room.

"How about a beer Sunshine?" This is not the Cristina Joe is used to serving at the bar. This Cristina is jumpy. The only other time he's seen this was when she was pregnant. At this rate, Joe predicted that Cristina was on her way to a quick exit.

"Yeah, that'd be good"

Joe opens a bottle of beer placing it in front of Cristina who doesn't even let it hit the bar.

"You're welcome." Joe laughs thinking it's going to be a long night "What can I get for you Dr. Burke?"

"The same. Thanks Joe." Burke places pressure on Cristina's knee to stop it from bouncing. She looks down at his hand.

"Are you okay?"

"Fine. Where is Meredith? I'm starving." Again, she turns her head to look around as she answers.

"You seem nervous. Are you nervous?" Cristina seems to be getting more nervous not less and they just got there. Burke does not want this night to go badly.

Cristina looks at him as if he's totally off base "I'm fine. It's just Joe's. Why would I be nervous at Joe's? I come here all the time."

Before Burke can respond, Cristina leans into him, lowering her voice as she continues "Don't you feel self-conscious? We've never been here together before."

"No. Cristina, these are the same people we see at the hospital everyday." Burke's glad that she finally said what's on her mind even if he thinks it's ridiculous.

"Right." Burke's logical response is exactly why she didn't bring this up earlier. Here's one more reason he can think she's crazy.

"I'll be right back." Watching Burke walk away, she's thinking how he and George will probably be laughing about how crazy she is later. She could kill Izzie right now.

"Ready for another?"

Cristina answers in a high pitched voice "Two, please."

Joe stares blankly at her trying to decide what to say "You might want to pace yourself. The other half of your foursome isn't even here yet."

Cristina checks over her shoulder to make sure that Burke is out of earshot "So what have people been saying about Burke and I?" Cristina's voice and face are very serious. If Izzie is right, Joe is the person who would know. He knows everything that is happening at Seattle Grace.

"What?" As a bartender, he learned to tread carefully with the drunks and even more carefully with the sober.

"Don't act all innocent. You heard me."

"Nothing." Joe is not a stupid man and he is not going to jump into this hornet's nest with Cristina. He had a good idea of the kind of person she was from the time she spent at the bar with her friends. He liked her. She had smarts and spunk. Two things that people hated in pretty girls. It won't do her any good to know the gossip.

"Hey, don't forget that Burke saved your life." Cristina's determined to find out if people are talking.

Joe laughs "What are you going to do? Have him go back and kill me again."

Of course she could not have Burke go back and kill him but if looks could kill Joe would have dropped dead on the spot.

"Why are you acting so crazy anyway? You need to learn to relax."

Burke is back before she can answer "Come on, there's a table open."

She mimics Joe's last statement as she hops off her stool. As they walk over to the booth, Joe eyes the couple up noticing Burke's arm around Cristina's shoulder. At least one of them is acting normal.

"Burke, this isn't a table. It's a booth."

"Excuse me?" Burke wrinkles his forehead in disbelief that she is trying to start a fight over a table.

"It's a booth." From the tone in her voice, you'd think that Burke had just told her that the there was no such thing as science.

"Yes, it is. A booth around a table. It is also the only available space in the bar for four people to sit. So sit." It was not often that he used a firm voice with Cristina. He preferred a softer approach but when she got like this it never worked.

"Why do I have to sit on the inside?"

Shaking his head, he nudges her waist and Cristina slides into the booth with a sour expression painted on her face followed by Burke.

They sit in silence for a few minutes watching for Meredith and Finn. Burke's singing is only making Cristina more annoyed at how comfortable he is. They have a great view of the bar so they will be able to see Meredith come in. They can see everything. Problem is that if they can see everyone then everyone can see the two of them.

"You have to relax." Burke puts his hand over hers on the table.

Cristina answers annoyed "I am relaxed."

Sometimes her stubbornness boggled his mind "Is that why you're destroying that label?"

She looks down seeing paper shreds and slouches a bit in her seat "People are watching us."

"What are you talking about?"

Cristina gives him a pouty look "You know exactly what I'm talking about."

"Maybe you're right. So what if they are. Who cares?"

Her face is unchanged and her mind screams that boys are stupid.

"I don't care. Let them watch. What are they going to see? That I am in love with the most stubborn woman in the bar."

"Burke" he smiles at the vulnerability in her voice.

"Everyone can know that if they want. I'd be happy to tell them myself."

The worst part about what Burke said to her is that he means it. Every single word. Cristina rolls her eyes "I bet you…"

Burke interrupts her with a soft kiss. After a second or two, she thinks he might have a point and she shouldn't care either. That is until she hears someone clear their throat.

"Hi" Meredith has a huge grin on her face. Suddenly, her own nervousness is gone.

"Hey Mer." Cristina brushes her hair out of her face biting the corner of her lip.

"Meredith." Burke is less embarrassed than Cristina but this is not exactly the first impression he was aiming for.

"Cristina Yang, Preston Burke this is Finn Dandridge." Meredith figures that Finn could decide on his own what name to call them. When Burke became Cristina's boyfriend, she was not sure what to call him herself when they weren't at work. He told them to call him Preston but, like Cristina, she found it hard to do. Still not comfortable, she avoids addressing him by name at all whenever possible.

As Meredith slides into the booth, Finn shakes Burke's hand "Nice to meet both of you. Sorry we're late."

"No problem." Cristina's just happy that they're finally there so people can look at something besides her and Burke.

"We were worried but you seem to have been able to occupy yourselves." Meredith can't resist teasing Cristina. She and Burke made a cute couple. Cristina really did light up when he was around.

"Yeah. Actually we were just fighting." Cristina makes a face that quickly changes to a smile feeling Burke's hand squeezes her thigh as he takes a sip of beer. Maybe this night won't be so bad after all.

Meredith is not buying it "Whatever."

Finn tries to make the situation more comfortable "Don't be embarrassed, I always feel like making out whenever I sit in a booth."

They all laugh except Burke who starts to stand up "I just realized I left something in the car."

"What did you forget?" Cristina's confused because Burke never forgets anything. Ever.

"It's alright. I'll be right back. Excuse me."

"Of course it will be alright but they just got here." Hearing her comment as he walks away he turns around smiling. She likes watching him walk away especially in the jeans he's wearing tonight.

"I hope it wasn't anything I said. So Cristina, Meredith says you call Preston by his last name."

"Yeah" Her eyes following Burke as he makes his way over to the bar not the door.

"Is that what everyone calls him?"

"No. Some people call him Preston." She focuses her attention back to Mer and Finn but is still keeping an eye on Burke.

"So why Burke?" Finn is not shy. Meredith has told him a lot about Cristina and Burke. He's curious.

"Yeah why Burke?" Meredith smiling.

Cristina looks at them like they are crazy "Dude, don't you think that's a little personal. I don't even know you."

"Cristina!" This is exactly what Meredith was worried about. Burke hasn't even been gone five minutes.

Cristina rolls her eyes remembering that she's supposed to be nice "Fine. I call him Burke because I think it's sexy." She leans back against her seat and sees her boyfriend approach a guy sitting at the bar.

"Seriously?" Meredith finds her answer in the smile on Cristina's lips.

Sheppard feels a pat on his back and is surprised to see Burke.

"Preston. Hi." Derek has a suspicion that Burke is not too happy to see that he's crashed the site of the big double date.

Sheppard is at the far corner of the bar and Burke sits in the stool opposite him giving him a clear view of Cristina. He sees the smile on her face disappears as she recognizes who the guy at the bar is. He is glad that Meredith cannot see them from her seat.

Burke looks down at the bar then over to Sheppard "There's this guy I know. Nice guy whose had a rough year. Caught his wife in bed with his best friend. Moved to a new town to start over. Fell in love with a girl in a bar only to have his wife show up forcing him to choose between a new love and an old commitment. He chose the old commitment knowing it was the right thing to do even though he wasn't certain it was what he wanted. Then he found out that the right thing wasn't always the easiest thing to stay faithful to. Lots of times it's painful and we wonder why we are doing it in the first place especially when what we wanted is staring us in the face everyday. It's easy to forget why we chose to do the right thing. Easy to lust after what we wanted and ignore what we already have."

Burke described his situation perfectly. Derek looks in Cristina's direction not able to see Meredith "How would you know? You have what you want."

"I have exactly what I want and I know what it feels like to not have her." Burke had not forgotten the days he and Cristina spent apart because of a choice that he made for the two of them.

Derek takes a drink "Sometimes choices are wrong."

"They're still our choices to live with and there are ways to make new choices. A right way." He pauses noticing that Cristina is staring at them. She smiles then quickly looks away when their eyes meet and he continues "I was fortunate to have a second chance to make another choice. You made your choice Derek. If you want to be with Meredith, divorce Addison otherwise you're just playing games. You're a good guy. Don't mess that up. No good can come from you being here tonight. Go home."

Saying what he came over to say Burke goes back to his date.

"He's right" Bailey is now sitting on the stool to his right.

Sheppard sighs "Not you too? Since when can a doctor not enjoy a drink at Joe's?"

Bailey throws him the Nazi look.

Taking the last gulp of his drink "Okay, I'm going."

Joe comes over to Bailey's spot at the bar just as Sheppard leaves "I see you haven't lost your touch. What can I get you?"

"How about a shot of tonight's best gossip?" Bailey feels out of the loop since having the baby. Being mommy-tracked was no fun and she's determined to put an end to it. After a long day at the hospital she wants nothing more than to be home with her baby but every once in awhile she needed a night at Joe's to keep up.

"The reappearance of the Nazi of course. How's your little boy?"

"Bonding with his daddy. We're not talking about the same Seattle Grace if I'm the hottest gossip. Stop your lying and spill."

Joe leans on the bar "Well you know all about the Meredith McDreamy saga, there's Izzie hating Alex, and Callie Torres hating Meredith, Cristina and Izzie. Of course, the main attraction of the evening is this bar's first, and possibly last, Yang Burke sighting." Joe nods in the direction of the foursome at the back of the bar.

"You mean to tell me that all the best gossip around here involves every single one of my interns?"

"That's what I'm saying. The rest of the hospital is quiet compared to your crew." Joe laughs knowing that this revelation does not make Miranda Bailey happy. She hated drama. Did her best to avoid it and here she was stuck playing mother hen to five interns that were drama magnets.

"Those interns are nothing but trouble. That means they don't have enough work to do." Bailey liked her interns but she was not kidding the day she called them Rosemary's Babies. There was not a resident in the surgical department who wanted to be bothered with them while she was on maternity leave. Too smart for their own good. That's what one of the residents had told her. He was right and she was proud of every single one of them.

Joe laughs cleaning a shot glass "They're just misunderstood."

Bailey turns around to where Cristina, Burke, Meredith and Finn are sitting "Yang and Burke got top billing?"

"Yep. He kissed her earlier and people are still talking about it. They're like Brangelina around here. People are watching them like a hawk. Most bets are on Cristina to do something crazy by the end of the night."

"Good to see people around here are still stupid. What kind of action are we talking about?" She turns to look at them again and waves when Cristina spots her.

Joe smiles "3 to 1 odds." Surgeons were so competitive. They would probably wager their own kids if it meant that it would give them an extra edge.

"I'll take that. Who's running this?" Bailey's no exception. She thinks Cristina can make it through the night and sees the opportunity to win big.

Joe mouths "The nurses." He loved the surgeons and the nurses but they did not feel the same about each other.

Bailey was expecting him to say Karev and shakes her head, "The nurses? I told Cristina pissing off the nurses was stupid."

"They're just waiting for her to slip up." There was always one intern that the nurses chose to hate just like there was one intern the attendings chose to torture.

"That bad?" Bailey is surprised and the Nazi does not like to be surprised.

"The only intern less popular than Cristina is Alex." Joe points a glass towards Alex eating peanuts by himself at the other end of the bar.

"Tell me more." Bailey is always interested in what's going on so that she can use it to her advantage later.

"Look at them." Joe points to the other interns who are now all in the bar. "Everyone loves O'Malley. He's a great guy. Goofy but sensitive, practically a girl. Then there's Izzie who is a knock out but sweet and everyone predicts she'll switch to OB by next year so what's the sense of hating her. Meredith's got an edge to her but her famous mom shows up alzheimers and her McDreamy shows up with a gorgeous wife. They feel bad for her. Hard to hate somebody you feel badly for. Then there's Cristina. The nurses hate her."

"That's a little harsh don't you think Joe?" It's still not clear to Bailey why the nurses have it in for Cristina. She could be difficult but they were all difficult in their own way.

"Harsh but true. Cristina's hot, smart, balls the size of Texas with the skills to back them up and living with an attending who just happens to be one of the top surgeons in the country. They disliked her when they were just dating but it was all out hate once she moved in with him."

"I see your point. Damn jealousy." Bailey's shaking her head. She should not have been surprised. The hospital is a hotbed of gossip and cattiness that shows no mercy to its victims. No way is Cristina getting a pass.

"Like I said they're just waiting for her to slip. Reminds me a lot of you."

Bailey looks over at Cristina thinking that she certainly did not need any help making enemies. They were similar in that way.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9 – Joe's Bar**

Anxious to catch up on the latest gossip, Izzie's eyes are locked on the bar, "So what do you think Bailey and Joe are talking about?"

"Definitely not sex."

Izzie rolls her eyes, "Of course they're not talking about sex."

"Exactly. There's no way they're talking about sex. No reason whatsoever." George learned this lesson the hard way when he made the mistake of implying that Bailey and Joe were more than friends. His head hurt all night when Bailey was through with him.

"O'Malley getting roughed up by a chick," Alex laughs as he walks up, "some things never change."

"There's no room here. Go back to the bar." Izzie, with zero patience left for Alex, has no interest in sharing the same bar let alone the same table.

"Too crowded over there." Alex sits down on one of the two empty stools and grabs a handful of peanuts as he waits for Izzie'ssaucyresponse.

What Alex doesn't realize is that the gossip hungry intern has other things on her mind, "Look at her over there. She's eating food off of his plate, touching him, letting him touch her. Look at how she's looking at him. Who is she?" From her spot at the table, Izzie has a perfect view of Cristina and Burke at their booth and is making it her mission not to miss a single thing.

"Big deal. She steals O'Malley's food all the time."

"How did you think she would act?" Callie's confused why Izzie's so interested in Cristina and Burke. Cristina's one of her closest friend, her family as George would say so what's the big deal. Cristina's spoiled, competitive and arrogant as most surgeons are but each time Callie's seen she and Burke together she's like any other woman with her boyfriend.

"Like Cristina but this is not Cristina. This…this is Burke's girlfriend." Her first time witnessing them as a couple outside of the hospital, Izzie is amazed as she watches Cristina play the girlfriend role with Burke. At work they are almost always professional as attending and intern. They're so professional it's annoying. Anyone who doesn't know their history and isn't paying enough attention would never pick up that they are a couple, that they are living together. Izzie doesn't understand how Cristina can keep things so separate. Dating Denny, she doesn't see the point of such firm lines.

"You seriously need to get out more." Alex is beyond bored with this and he just got there.

"She did not just let him wipe something off of her face without biting his finger. Wow, she really is a good girlfriend."

Alex looks up, "Hallefreakinlujah! Saint Izzie just gave her blessing."

"Ass!"

Alex is already moving on to a new can of worms, "So Dr. Torres what's it like living in the basement?"

Choking, George tries to wipe the beer dripping out of his mouth, "Alex!"

Izzie snickers as fresh gossip makes her not mind that Alex is such an ass. Everyone knows one of the best things about working in a hospital is the never ending juicy gossip.

"You told him? I can't believe you told him that!" Callie is used to George choosing his friends over her no matter how often they give him a hard time. Upset and embarrassed, she can't believe that her McDreamy betrayed her. She doesn't care if they're his family, this time he's gone too far.

With innocent, frightened eyes George shakes his head as he reaches for Callie's arm, "No! No! I swear it..."

"Keep your panties on O'Malley, you're embarrassing yourself. I didn't need to hear it from the fetus. I know all the gossip around here. So you live in the basement. Who cares?" As much as he enjoys watching anyone squirm, Alex was afraid George would drop to his knees begging Callie's forgiveness if he let it go on too long.

"You didn't know that Burke was sleeping with Cristina." Izzie never ignored an opportunity to one up cocky Alex. Before she used to like his arrogance believing he was a good guy trying too hard to hide it. Anymore, she despises it. Sometimes she thinks it must be a wrestling thing. She hopes Denny's not a wrestler.

Still eating peanuts, Alex rolls his eyes, "I told all of you that she was a freak and he wanted to get into her scrubs."

"You didn't know for sure." Izzie's eyeing him up ready for a fight.

"Are you always such a jerk?" This is the most time Callie's ever spent with Alex and she isn't liking that he questioned her living arrangements or called her boyfriend a fetus. Actually, she's not liking any of them including George. She wonders if she'll ever understand this group. They're family alright, completely dysfunctional.

Alex proudly puffs out his chest, "Only on my best days."

Izzie turns her back to the cocky intern, "Too bad for us he's not allergic to peanuts."

"And you call yourself a doctor." Alex can't resist smiling. He misses Izzie too and wishes things could be different for them. She's the only person in his life to stick with him even after he treated her and others like crap. That's special and he knows it. He also knows that he lost more than a girlfriend to Denny. He lost one of his best friends.

"So uh Callie, Izzie likes boys just like you." The looks on the faces of Alex, Callie and Izzie make it clear that George's first attempt to get the ladies talking crashed and burned. Since sitting down, they've barely said a word to each other and Alex's presence isn't helping the situation. His best friend and his girlfriend should be able to get along and he wants them to be friends. Well, maybe not friends but friendly.

"I just mean that she likes to bake and…she…likes boys. Both of those things…uh…start with… um, the letter b." Not knowing what else to do, George takes a swig of beer hoping to buy himself some time.

"You're pathetic O'Malley. Give it up." Alex scans the bar for a better spot to hang out but payday equals a crowded bar. If people can't bother to come to a bar when they can't afford to drink, they have no business being there when they get paid. If things get any worse over here, he might have no choice but to crash the annoying twins' party even with Burke sitting there.

"Why do you let him talk to you like that?" Callie is annoyed that George isn't standing up for himself with Alex. She's never had friends like this these interns and cannot figure out why anyone would want them.

"It doesn't bother me."

Drinking her water, Callie regrets ever agreeing to be the designated driver. No matter how hard she tries she cannot figure them out. Half the time she wonders if they're even listening to each other. One thing she knows is that they would be happy if she wasn't there, she'd be happy if she wasn't there. How can being called names not bother George? Didn't he have any self respect? Alex wouldn't let anyone call him names. Actually he did. What the hell is wrong with all of them? No wonder they get along.

George smiles, "I saw Denny today. He looks good. How's he feeling Izzie?"

Alex rolls his eyes as Izzie doesn't even try to contain the gushing, "Great, Denny's just fabulous. Awww, she's got her hand on his leg." From her seat Izzie can see everything and continues to point all of it out for the rest of them. She's completely unaffected by the evil eye Cristina gives whenever she catches her spying. She's happy for them. At Thanksgiving she was worried that they wouldn't last. Izzie was convinced that Cristina would mess it up because she was selfish and didn't seem interested in having a boyfriend. Cristina always seemed cold about their relationship but tonight she realizes that she was wrong.

"Izzie, it's nothing new. It's Cristina and Burke."

Izzie rolls her eyes, "Relax George, we all didn't live with them."

Smiling Callie glances over at the foursome "You should hear her call him honey."

George shoots her a disapproving look but it's too late.

Suddenly, Izzie is very interested in what Callie has to say, "Is that true? Cristina calls Burke 'honey', seriously?"

Maybe Callie's figured them out after all. This is the most attention Izzie's paid to her since they got there, "Yeah, 'baby' too. I don't know who's more whipped him or her. She's just a marshmallow that squishes when you squeeze her. George can tell you."

"I wouldn't say either of them is whipped." George knows this is bad. Cristina will not be happy when she finds out and unhappy Cristina is a bad, bad thing. He much prefers happy Cristina and she is happy with Burke. She's always been happy with Burke.

Izzie is mesmerized, "Honey? Baby? It's like she's not even Cristina. Meredith was right. She's nice, happy." Izzie takes a sip of her wine recalling sitting at Joe's after Cristina miscarried talking about the ice in her veins. She really is different now.

"You should stop staring at them. It's not polite. Make fun of somebody else." George knows what Izzie's saying is true. When he moved in, it surprised him to see Cristina interact with Burke. She was cuddly not like the porcupine they were all used to seeing.

Alex smells blood, "She's soft. I knew it all along. Yang's a total chick. Next thing you know she'll go from calling him baby to having his baby."

"You'd better not let Cristina hear you say that. Anyway, she only has one fallopian tube." Even Izzie knows better than to tease Cristina about babies and marriage. Some things are off limits even for them.

"Excuse me?" Callie is confused about the one fallopian tube and why it's coming up at the bar like they're discussing the weather. Nothing seems to be off limits with this group unless it's coming out of her mouth.

"Like I care. She'll go psycho on her boyfriend first anyway."

"She's not a chick, she's a girlfriend. She loves him. They're in love." George feels guilty that they're picking Cristina apart. Not that she didn't deserve it, not that she wouldn't be doing the same thing but he knows that she looks out for him and Burke is his friend too. It just doesn't feel right to him.

Alex, on the other hand, is always looking for any weakness in the competition, "You're absolutely right O'Malley. I was wrong, you're the whipped chick not Yang."

As much as she hates Alex lately, Izzie misses this, "Why don't you go have sex with someone diseased?"

Raising his beer to Cristina, he ignores Izzie "You know Yang's a total freak in the sack. O'Malley did you hear her calling my name while Burke whipped her?"

"You are disgusting!" Callie gets up off the stool to get away from them for a few minutes.

Bailey walks up behind Alex and stands by the vacant seat, "At least one of you has some sense. If Burke finds out you're talking that way about Cristina he's gonna kick your ass. Talking about sex with an attending's girlfriend. Stupid. There ain't no test to retake to fix that one."

Alex tries to play off his embarrassment, "It was a joke. How's the little one?"

Bailey reaches over to take one of the beers sitting in front of Alex, "Save it Karev, just cause I had a mommy brain fart earlier does not mean you should continue. I know all about your little bet with Yang. Using a baby like that. You ought to be ashamed of yourself. I know you're not, but you ought to be."

Izzie and George have wide smiles on their face enjoying Alex's discomfort.

Drinking her beer, Bailey looks over at the double date, "So is that the guy that's going to end Grey's knitting obsession?"

Izzie smiles surprised that Bailey's at all interested in their personal lives, "Yeah. He's cute. Wouldn't pick him as her type though. We'll see how long he lasts."

"You guys take any action out on Yang tonight." This is the real reason Bailey is standing at this table with the interns. She is always interested in a little gossip and prides herself on knowing the latest odds.

They all look down at their drinks surprised and ashamed, even Alex.

Bailey's eyes widen and her voice is unforgiving, "Pathetic. You are supposed to be the girl's friends and you're all betting against her? Guess they stopped teaching loyalty in medical school. Not one of you bet that she'd last the night? Not even you O'Malley?"

George shifts on his stool looking around the table, "What bet?"

Izzie clears her throat as she kicks him under the table.

"Ouch! What?"

"His girlfriend put money up for him."

Alex smirks, "My money's on her to have an estrogen attack after a few more drinks. I'm thinking of buying her a couple myself to move things along."

"C'mon, it's not like she wouldn't bet on us." Izzie knows this for a fact. Surgeons are competitive and Cristina's competitive streak runs deeper than most.

George is embarrassed that Bailey knows he's betting against Cristina, "She's bet on me before."

Izzie nods in support, "That's true."

"You all bet against me." George has tried his best to block out the day that Burke picked him to be the first intern to perform a procedure. That was a disaster.

Alex chimes in, "Grey's money was on you."

"Well, I guess I know who my true friend is then." George smiling brightly as Callie returns to her seat glaring at him.

"uh, I mean…" George stammers knowing how much Callie dislikes Meredith.

"You can stop talking now. I really don't care how many times you bet against each other, I'm just trying to see whose money will be coming home in my pocket. I think it's gonna be a long night. Yang hasn't made a fool out of herself yet. The liquor might help her out, turning her all mushy when she's had one too many." She says she doesn't care but that couldn't be further from the truth. Miranda Bailey never bets on a loser. She always bets to win and the truth is that she has more faith than most in Cristina.

Izzie is curious as always, "So Dr. Bailey did you bet for or against her?"

"That is not the business of suck ups. Thanks for the beer Karev."

They all exchange looks as Bailey struts away laughing.


	10. Chapter 10

**CHAPTER 10 - Joe's Bar**

Although he would rather be home in bed than a crowded bar, Burke is enjoying himself. By the time their meal had arrived Cristina started acting less crazy and more like his Cristina. At first, he had been puzzled that the rest of the interns stayed at a distance but it didn't take too long to realize that his dinner companions were taking turns sending death glares to them and a few others in the bar. George tried to make his way over but wisely turned back once he made eye contact with both Meredith and Cristina. Burke isn't quite sure why they are being so antisocial tonight, but does know that whenever the two women are together the only sure thing is that there will be trouble. In the past ten minutes, the conversation took a surprising turn toward the challenges in his relationship with Cristina leaving Burke thankful for two things. That Cristina loves Meredith enough to really be nice and that his girlfriend can't escape because she is sitting on the inside of the booth.

It's clear to Finn that Preston and Cristina have chemistry, and, it is also clear that something about them just doesn't make sense. He is intrigued why such an accomplished surgeon would risk his reputation to engage in games with this ornery intern, "Preston, how did you put up with all of that from Cristina?"

Burke turns to look at his favorite intern with devilish eyes that shine brighter each time her restless body brushes against him. It's clear to him that Cristina is well past the point of being comfortable with the conversation, "Once we got past Cristina comparing me to something sticky on her shoe…"

"Once. I did that once." With hands out in front of her, a slightly irritated Cristina rolls her eyes then pouts as she tries to defend herself. She likes to forget the past, especially moments like Thanksgiving. The truth is that looking back, she's not proud of how she acted their first holiday together or that she suggested breaking up on their second. Meredith is her best friend but nice has its limits.

Meredith knows Cristina well enough to realize that if this conversation continues their night is going to end in an ugly fight. The couple is way too good at that and the last thing Cristina needs is to have a fight with Burke in the middle of the crowded bar. "New subject! Finn, did I ever tell you how Izzie and I rescued Doc?"

Always ready for a fight and spurred on by the alcohol Cristina defiantly leans over to Burke, "No, Meredith. I think he should answer."

Hearing Cristina's challenge Burke cocks his head back raising his eyebrow as he looks at her unable to prevent a single chuckle from escaping. He is not surprised that she's not letting the question go. She wouldn't be his Cristina if she did.

At that moment, Joe comes over with a round of drinks, "These are from your fellow interns over there." Joe turns and waves at the group on the other side of the bar, "Remember them? They're very curious about how things are going in the land of the double date."

"Thanks, Joe." Meredith forces a smile.

"Baby, I bet Joe would like to know how you've been able to put up with me too." Cristina's voice is sarcastically sweet her eyes never straying from her lover's face.

Joe laughs then stops realizing that she is serious, "No, Joe wouldn't." Taking a quick look at Meredith the bartender takes a deep breath and smiles, "Best of luck Dr. Burke. There's a first aid kit behind the bar. Help yourself." Knowing how happy the nurses are going to be in a little while, Joe walks away shaking his head. He had been rooting for Cristina to prove them wrong but there is no way that happens now.

Undaunted, Burke maintains _their_ stare. The intensity burning in Cristina's eyes is one of the things that initially drew him to her. Reading those eyes, he knows she's unsure of what he's going to say but is up for the challenge. Reluctantly breaking their strongest connection, he turns away from Cristina to face Finn and Meredith with a smile in his eyes, "It was simple. I was in love with her. Even then."


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11 - Joe's Bar**

Burke doesn't need to turn to know that his words surprised the woman who prides herself on not being surprised by anything. He loves that he is still able to do that.

Watching his cocky grin widen, Cristina bites the inside of her lip in an effort to control her own smile. This is not the first time he's said he loved her but it is the first time he has said it in front of anyone else. Fighting off any outward signs of internal melting, she quickly takes a drink and leans back against the booth.

Meredith is also smiling, relieved that Burke smoothly avoided a messy fight and made Cristina happy all at the same time. She knows that Burke is good for her friend and loves that, for once, it is not her under the romantic microscope. Crisis averted, Meredith can't resist teasing Cristina, "I think you just made Cristina blush. Again."

Between remembering to be nice and being the center of attention, Cristina is running out of patience and scowls at Meredith. With dinner over it is as good a time as any for the real Cristina to emerge. Composing herself Cristina clears her throat, "So Finn how are you handling Meredith's vow of celibacy?"

As Cristina finishes her question, Meredith chokes on her beer and Burke tries his best to do damage control with his smiling girlfriend.

"Cristina that's private." His girlfriend's unapologetic frankness still strikes a reflex in Burke to try to fix it. As is usually the case, he is shocked by Cristina's forwardness and it takes him a moment to realize that this might be the 'weird' thing Meredith's dealing with.

"Uh, yeah, whatever."

With a quick look at Meredith and a smile veiling his obvious unhappiness with the celibacy Finn ventures to answer the question, "Ah, the experiment. Well, not having sex has left me with lots of time to think so I'm doing a study."

"A study?" Meredith rolls her eyes. She's not sure what she thinks about Finn. He's no McDreamy but that might be a good thing.

"Yes, a study to see how many dates people have before they have sex? I mean take you two for example. You seem perfectly happy. How many dates before you had sex?"

As the couple tries to conceal their discomfort, Meredith begins laughing that Cristina's plan is backfiring, "This should be good."

"That's the last time I'm nice. No more nice for you." Cristina looks at Burke. His jaw clenched at the prospect of answering the question on the table. She knows that he prides himself on being honorable and their beginning was anything but. Their relationship, considered to be scandalous by some, was saved from the gossip mill only because Meredith and McDreamy had already captured the attention of the hospital.

Burke clears his throat forcing a smile, "We're probably not the best example on this subject."

Finn looks at the two of them perplexed. He can see that they are happy but this is one more thing to add to his list of things about them that make no sense, "I don't understand."

Feeling a twinge of remorse at Cristina's sacrifice, Meredith breaks the awkward silence in an attempt to save her friends, "Finn, their relationship…"

"Dating is overrated. We started with sex." Cristina takes a sip of her beer as soon as the word sex is out of her mouth. She hates confessions but knows that some things are best when ripped off like a band aid. Later, she can blame the liquor for loosening her tongue.

Finn leans towards Meredith with a huge smile on his face "And look how well this worked out for your best friend and her boyfriend. They're happy. That settles it we should definitely have sex."

Burke sits up straighter clearing his throat, "Actually Finn, Cristina and I knew each other for several months before we had sex."

Wondering whose reputation he's defending, Cristina laughs at how cute Burke's doomed attempt at discretion is. Normally, she would be more self conscious but right now she's more concerned why Joe isn't back with another beer.

"So you met at work?" Finn just met Cristina and Preston but it doesn't take a surgeon to realize that there are lots of details missing.

"He's perceptive for a vet."

Shaking her head as a warning, Meredith leans forward on the table. She knows Cristina too well to believe that she is as comfortable with this conversation as she's pretending to be.

Cristina takes a deep breath her voice coming out a little softer than usual, "Mer, you really didn't tell him any of this?"

"Nope!" Finn is more than a little bit curious by their reactions and how this relationship manages to still work. Sex, no dating combined with their strong personalities and professional relationship does not seem like a recipe for romantic success.

Cristina scans the room then continues, "Burke is our boss and one day he seduced me in the on-call room."

"Cristina! This is what you tell people?" Burke's embarrassment is clear in his voice to everyone as he stares at Cristina while Meredith and Finn barely control their laughter.

"Hey, if you wanted to tell the story you should've spoken up."

Burke is just shaking his head at the unapologetic woman he loves yet still cannot figure out. He's taken off guard as she starts talking again.

"We didn't have our first date until we had already broken up once and gotten back together."

"Really? Why did you break up?"

Not responding immediately to Finn's question, Cristina scrunches up her face in confusion as she looks at Meredith, "Um, Mer when did you start dating women?" Watching Meredith roll her eyes Cristina continues completely unaffected, "Burke dumped me then he…"

Burke smiles as he nervously reaches over to grab Cristina's hand. Afraid of what the rest of her story will sound like he interrupts, "he realized he couldn't live without her."

"Aww, honey." Cristina's tone is exaggerated, and, as Burke tightens his grip on her hand even she has to admit that she likes hearing him say things like that in public.

Finn really doesn't know what to think but he does know that he is interested in finding out more about Meredith, "So does everyone at Seattle Grace sleep with their boss?"

"No. I think just us." As she speaks, Meredith cannot believe that she is on a date with Dr. Burke and Finn discussing her affair with McDreamy.

Cristina chimes in, pulling her hand away from Burke to point across the room "The blond over there is in love with Burke's patient who's waiting for a new heart."

"They're having sex?"

"Worse." Cristina sticks her tongue out as George waves.

Meredith continues, "They' play scrabble."

Interested in only one intern's love life Burke isn't quite done with the previous conversation, "I brought her coffee." He snickers remembering that first cup of coffee, "Cristina was shocked. She looked at it like it was poison but she drank it."

"You saw that?" It never occurred to her that Burke had bothered to see if she drank the coffee.

"Yes," his voice is soft, confident unaware that his one word can make Cristina's heart flutter but very aware that, in this moment, they are the only two in the bar.

"Actually he saved Meredith from being kicked out of the program." Even now, Cristina is not willing to reveal that while Burke and Meredith were with the Chief she was sure that he would sacrifice Meredith to protect his own career. That is what she believed or at least what she convinced herself to believe to avoid disappointment.

Unfortunately for Finn, the more information he gets the less he understands, "So that's why you had sex with him?"

"No. I was just thanking him for the coffee."

Burke and Meredith laugh at Cristina's usual sarcasm and Burke continues with their story, "If it was up to Cristina we'd still be having meaningless sex in on-call rooms. She wouldn't even give me her phone number."

"Who said it was meaningless?" She knows Burke is right. It had been meaningless for a time. She cannot even say when things changed but knows that one day the thought of losing him meant something to her.

"We definitely had some things to work out." With no reason to challenge Cristina about the beginning of their relationship Burke tries diplomacy.

The truth is that Cristina did not think that they would make it past meaningless sex but Burke wouldn't let her put up walls. He wouldn't let her push him away. Sometimes she wonders how long they would last. Right now she just wishes that she could go join the gawking interns across the bar but instead reluctantly answers Burke, "Yeah."

Under the table Burke covers her hand with his as his forearm rests on her leg,

"Cristina thought I was sleeping with other women."

"I did not." It was a lie but she couldn't risk telling him everything. She clearly remembers how excited she was that day when he told her there was no one else. She will deny it forever but she was surprised that the man she admired so much was interested only in her.

"Right, that's why you were getting tested for syphilis."

"So w…ewww," disgusted Cristina pushes napkins towards Finn so that he can clean up the beer that just shot out of his mouth in her direction.

Finn wipes his mouth, "Syphilis? Seriously?"

"Of course seriously. Who makes jokes about syphilis? Alex gave it to George then anybody having sex was supposed to get tested."

Meredith smiles, "Not me." She remembers feeling proud that, for once, she was not the person involved in a hospital scandal.

"That was only because you and glow in the dark..."

"Ouch!"

"Sorry Dr. Burke." Embarrassed Meredith glares at Cristina gloating across the table.

Amused but confused Finn is having difficulty following the conversation, "George and Alex?"

"Same woman. Not each other."

Finn still confused but less now, "Oh. Wow! There's a lot of sex at Seattle Grace."

Cristina laughs and Burke although not amused smiles. He is still somewhat shocked at the information Cristina is sharing with Finn.

"There must have been hell to pay for sleeping with the bosses. I guess you ladies really have walked the straight and narrow since all that came out."

Now leaning on the table with her chin on her free hand Cristina looks directly at Finn, "Very blunt. Mer, I like this one better than McDoucheBag. It's too bad you're not a real doctor."

"Cristina!" in unison Burke and Meredith speak in that reprimanding tone that they both know Cristina loves to ignore.

Cristina stares defiantly at her boyfriend and her best friend, "What is your problem? He's a vet."

Wondering where 'nice' Cristina has disappeared to Meredith resumes their old debate, "Vets save lives."

"Correction. Vets save pigs."

Impressed that Finn hasn't already left, Burke jumps in before Cristina has a chance to insult him anymore, "I'm sure you've already picked up that neither one of them is very good at staying out of trouble. We've begun to think that Stanford and Dartmouth don't teach med students how to do that anymore."

Meredith and Cristina exchange irritated glances with one another and at Burke. It's true. No matter what anyone says neither can deny that they have had more than their fair share of drama. Anyway, even if they deny it, Bailey is never too far away and will not let them get away with it.

"Tell me more Preston?" Finally, Finn feels like he is going to hear about his date.

Burke chuckles at the uneasiness of the interns, "I don't even know where to begin." His girlfriend and her best friend have managed to get themselves into more trouble than all of last year's class during their short time at Seattle Grace. They are the two interns with a reputation of running towards trouble instead of away from it.

Cristina cocks her head and with pleading eyes and a single word asks him to save them, "Burke."

Confident that he has found a goldmine of information, Finn's grin widens, "I'm sure you can think of somewhere to start."

"We really don't need to go there." Meredith too is nervous and in no hurry for her date to hear about their less than impressive resume. Everyone in that bar knows how lucky the two of them are to still be in good standing in the surgical program.

"You know that everyone thinks you're the," Cristina raises her hands using her fingers to form air quotes, "nice half of this couple." She doesn't want to go down this road anymore than Meredith but she's not going to be nice to avoid it.

Setting aside his own curiosity about Meredith, Finn decides to change the subject, "You know what Preston? I'm sure that Meredith will tell me about her past when she's ready. There's no rush. We have plenty of time."

Freaked out by Finn's comments, Meredith gives him a fake smile, "Thank you." Then looking at Cristina, "See vets are real doctors. And sweet not like surgeons."

"That's great, Mer. If he was a cookie he'd be perfect."

Burke clears his throat as Finn chuckles, "So Cristina when did you know?"

"Well Finn, I know a lot of things can you narrow it down?" She smiles proudly, happy with her decision to end the nice routine. Now she can relax and have some fun.

"That you were in love with Preston?"


End file.
